DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
PI : Kinmuni is all about helping more people achieve their diet goals, particularly unique individuals who require specific dietary needs and those who are busy without the convenience to cook or plan meals. The principle behind this project is to provide a creative solution that hasn't existed yet but is practical and legitimate for everyday life. This includes addressing pain points of every stakeholder and user in the food industry, mainly consumers' unique needs such as diet planning, tracking, customizing, ordering, and eating, all managed in a single place. This ensures maximum convenience for any kind of dietary requirement to be met, even without extensive nutritional knowledge or understanding.
I'm passionate about providing tailored coaching and diet solutions all in one place. Not only for consumers, but also for restaurants, the nutritional calculator database can easily provide chefs the convenience of offering close-to-accurate nutritional information to consumers, whether it's micronutrients, vitamins, or assessing which diet category a meal belongs to. The business perspective is also considered, as specific pain points were derived from real-life challenges collected through impromptu interviews at intended restaurants. This includes reducing the need to keep printing promotional posters and menus every time seasons change or prices change, and more while providing incentives for customer loyalty by ensuring customers return despite potentially slightly higher price ranges than competitors.
This project was greatly inspired by my community's diet needs and struggles over many years. Many challenges were considered while I was brainstorming for this solution. The concept grew after an intensive competitive audit and gaining a deeper understanding of industry strengths and weaknesses.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
PI : My main focus was to solve the pain points I discovered, as individuals with unique challenges often struggle to meet their nutritional goals due to time constraints, lack of information, and limited options. The objective was to streamline diet solutions, and help users with diverse challenges needs manage and meet their diet objectives effectively.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
PI : While I don't have concrete plans yet, I'm passionate about seeing Kinmuni make real impact in communities. I'm on a passive lookout for opportunities to partner with the right team or organization that shares my vision of helping people achieve better health outcomes. My ultimate goal would be to build this solution with a passionate team that can bring it to life and continuously improve it based on user feedback and community needs.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
PI : Three months for the entire design process including UIUX and branding design.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
PI : This project started as a final project from the Google UX design course. Driven to create a solution for real-life practical use, I decided to devote about three months to this project alone. It began with a prompt from Sharpen: "design a nutritional calculator app." However, I was motivated by my passion to help communities take better care of themselves, which drove me to go beyond the basic requirements and create something truly impactful.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
PI : The design is not produced or used by any other company at the moment. I don't have specific plans currently, but I'm on a passive lookout for opportunities to bring this solution to the communities that need it most.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
PI : My passion to help build better communities and my desire for people to take better care of themselves. Growing up in a place where health and nutrition resources were not prioritized, I understand firsthand how challenging it can be to maintain proper nutrition without the right tools and information.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
PI : Uber’s app design and concept significantly influenced the app’s foundation, particularly their approach to UX flows and some of their calorie-counted meals. Subsequently, the UX/UI was localized to create emotionally resonant and practical design that catered specifically to nutritional and dietary needs.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
PI : The target customers are individuals with specific dietary requirements, busy professionals who lack time for meal planning, people with health conditions requiring careful nutrition management, and anyone seeking convenient access to personalized dietary guidance. This also includes restaurants and food service providers who want to offer better nutritional transparency to their customers.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
PI : Kinmuni's unique approach lies in being a comprehensive ecosystem rather than just another nutrition app. It closes the gap between consumers, restaurants, and nutritional expertise in one platform. Unlike existing solutions in the market that focus on either tracking or ordering, Kinmuni provides personalized coaching, real-time nutritional calculation for restaurant meals, and integration between dietary planning and food ordering, all while considering the needs of both consumers and food service providers.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
PI : I wanted to create a name that felt both modern and locally rooted. "Kinmuni" draws from the Lao language: "Kin" means to eat, and "Muni" (originally written as Mue Ni) means today. Together, Kinmuni translates to "eat today," a simple yet powerful message encouraging people to start making nutritious food choices now, not tomorrow. The name embodies the idea that healthy eating isn't something to postpone; it's something we should embrace today and every day moving forward.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
PI : I used my standard design toolkit: whiteboard for initial ideation and user journey mapping, Notion for documentation and project planning, Figma for wireframing and prototyping, and various research tools including competitive analysis platforms. I also conducted real-world interviews and observational research at local restaurants to validate pain points and user needs.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
PI : What sets this design apart is its holistic approach that puts nutritions and convenience at the center of everything. Rather than treating nutrition as an afterthought, I've made it the primary value proposition while creating a win-win-win ecosystem for all stakeholders. The design goes beyond typical food apps by integrating personalized coaching and making the entire food experience transparent and health-focused.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
PI : I collaborated with a trusted team of multidisciplinary designers. One specialized in branding, another in graphic design and illustrations, and a third provided UI design support. Their diverse expertise brought the project to life and made it more realistic.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
PI : Kinmuni is heavily influenced by the limited research including competitive audits of existing nutrition and food ordering apps, impromptu interviews with restaurant owners to understand their pain points, user interviews with individuals struggling with dietary management, and analysis of current market gaps. This research revealed that most solutions address only one aspect of the nutrition journey, while users need a comprehensive approach.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
PI : - Finding accurate micronutrient data for Lao ingredients proved difficult, as this information is much less available compared to other cuisines.
- Budget constraints limited our ability to conduct thorough UX research, which restricted the design's full potential.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
PI : Makpal Bayetova, the Vice-President of the A’ Design Award & Competition, reached out to me via email to encourage my participation in the competition after she discovered my design on Behance.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
PI : This project greatly deepened my understanding of the design thinking process, highlighting its unique challenges and guiding me to make more informed decisions in future projects. It also showcased the effectiveness of Google's UX process. By applying structured UX and empathy-driven frameworks, I developed a clearer understanding of my target audience's pain points.
